


Bad Blood

by pulpriter



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 05:40:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5194277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulpriter/pseuds/pulpriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exploration of Blood at the Wheel and The Blood of Juana the Mad</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blood at the Wheel

**Author's Note:**

> Several gentle readers requested from me a new look at Blood at the Wheel and The Blood of Juana the Mad. I tried to put them off because I find those two episodes difficult to watch--but in the end I can't resist a challenge.  
> In titling this, it occurred to me to use A Bloody Mess! Sorry, I don't mean to be offensive.  
> The subject matter led to a shift in writing style for me; please review/comment. 
> 
> These characters are not mine, they just live inside my head from time to time.

_Jack was so odd today at the site of the motorcar crash. I wonder what’s on his mind? He hardly even seemed…friendly._

###

Good God. A group of women calling themselves The Adventurers Club—with Phryne leading the pack, of course.  
She _will_ kill herself one day, most likely while I stand by helpless!  
I don’t want her to be hurt. But she won’t let me protect her. I understand. I won’t try to usurp that.  
But I don’t know how I can stand by and wait for it to happen. 

###

_I don’t think I’ve ever known Jack to drink during working hours—well, technically his shift was over, but...something is wrong. He’s been acting odd ever since he saw Gertie’s body in that car. It was almost as if Gertie were someone he cared about, but I’m sure she never met him.  
Jack is never easy. He is so complex. I hope he’ll open up and tell me what’s going on. _

###

I’ve got to control myself. I was so frustrated that I took it out on that poor girl. Poor girl, who loosened a wheel! But stupid as it was—and even Phryne agreed with that—it does no good to shout at her.  
I can’t stop thinking about that car, with the driver dead…I thought Phryne was dead—to me, to all the people who care about her. And for what? A road race. A game! 

###

_I can’t believe Jack was so angry with Millie! He was positively ferocious. It seems my sedate Inspector has the heart of a tiger—although I suppose that’s not entirely a surprise. But I don’t know what’s bothering him. There’s so much I don’t know about him—yet._

###

I can’t shake this fear for her, the one that came over me when I saw the body in the racecar. It’s colouring everything I do, every interaction I have with her.  
I tried to explain to her the other evening after the game of draughts. I told her plainly how I felt, and her only answer was “I am who I am”. It was more about her than about us. It leaves us nowhere to go, except away from each other. 

###

_This is the second time Jack’s abruptly walked out on me. Fine. I’ll be damned if I’ll give him the satisfaction of showing any concern about it. I felt his eyes on me when he paused before leaving, and I wanted to---NO. No, I didn’t. So I kept my eyes on the scrapbook I was paging through._  
_Letting a man control you is the first step on the road to hell. I know that much too well._  
_He won’t control me._

###

What in the hell? A _stocking_ in my exhaust pipe. Bloody wonderful.  
Here I am, going mad with worry for her, and she makes a joke of me. Of what I do. Of what I am.  
I can’t go on this way. It’s tearing me apart. 

###

_I can’t believe what just happened. I think Jack just walked out of my life._  
_Well, how dare he? Who does he think he is? As if I need him! I don’t!_  
_No…That’s not what this is about. He was wrong, he has to be wrong, but he didn’t do it because he wanted to control me, and he didn’t do it because he wanted to prove something._  
_But—why? He tried to explain, but …why would he put an end to us?_  
_What will I do?_  
_I don’t need him. I haven’t gotten this far by depending on anyone but myself. I’ll be fine, he’ll see. I don’t need anyone else._  
_He’ll see…_

###

Damn it! I almost hit that car! I’ve got to get hold of myself, or get off the road. What kind of a policeman would endanger the populace?  
There were tears in her eyes…I didn’t expect that. I never meant to cause her any tears. I didn’t really expect it would matter that much to her. She’s been clear that she is who she is.  
I just don’t have the strength to watch her endlessly putting herself in danger. I can’t stop her. I…won’t. I know she wants to be responsible for her own safety, even if my every instinct screams out to me to protect her.  
I’m sorry to lose whatever was beginning, but hadn’t quite happened—now it can never be. I feel the loss as if it had been torn from me.  
But I never meant to cause her any tears.


	2. The Blood of Juana the Mad

Not again. I knew it was only a matter of time before we ran into each other again. “Two steps behind,” she suggested sassily. I shouldn’t let it get to me.  
I should stay away from her. It’s true, our minds fly in the same direction often enough to be uncanny. We keep ending up in the same places, when I should just avoid her. Why can’t I seem to avoid her? Being around her leads to such exquisite pain…

###

_Beatrice is right. People are confusing. I hate seeing that look in Jack’s eyes, so different than I’ve ever seen. Leaning one’s head against a column seems to make as much sense as anything else right now.  
I thought maybe we could find our way through. He can’t seem to stop himself once we start thinking together about the case. It’s where we started, how we’ve gone on, ever since that first day. He’s addicted to the adrenaline of it, as much as I am. _

###

She had the decency to call me when she found the blood trail, and for a few moments it was as if nothing had happened between us. We found the likely murder weapon, followed the blood trail, found Miss Mason—standing in a pool of blood, no less, but not for long. Lucky I got to her before she fell! But then, once again, Phryne was arranging everything to her own advantage, ordering Collins around…I can’t go through this again. 

### 

_Ask me to leave, will he? I showed him how much I care about that! I made a smart remark as he headed for the door. It was childish, but I couldn’t help it._  
_He didn’t stride back to take me to task. He only turned, as if to say it was unworthy of me. Maybe it was._  
_But it hurt, Jack._

###

“Sayonara!” What else should I have expected? I could hardly bring myself to tell her how I felt, and as usual, she turned it into a joke. Not until after she had suggested that I couldn’t manage an investigation on my own, of course. Sometimes I’m astonished to realize how little she thinks of my abilities…Perhaps that’s not really it. I suppose she isn’t entirely comfortable with this situation, either, I can at least give her that. 

###

_We caught Spall together. When we work together, we are brilliant! Why doesn’t he see that? It was beautifully done, perfect timing; isn’t that worth saving our partnership? Then, after all this time, Beatrice told me she had the information about the letters that were changed! Such a mind she has: the thing that is obviously the reason for taking the Book of Hours, and she dismissed it! Now Jack will_ have _to talk to me again._

###

We have a likely answer to the code in the blasted Book of Hours. We got caught up in working together, again; it’s irresistible. The ideas were coming fast and furious. I hope I didn’t give too much away when I deciphered PLP: Phryne didn’t seem to notice it.

###

_Well, we solved the case. What a lot of twists and turns and red herrings!_  
_Poor Mac. She has to fight for every ounce of respect she gets, and even then, it’s usually grudging or fraught with ulterior expectations. I can’t believe what she has to go through just to do her work._  
_As for my work—I got to enjoy a motorcycle ride. And to hold on the well-muscled driver of the motorcycle._

###

It’s hard to see what Doctor MacMillan has to put up with, just to work in her chosen field. No wonder she’s adopted a cheeky way of looking at the world—what else could she do? She has a fine mind, and it must be hard to be passed over for no reason other than being a woman. Modern women…I wonder if anything will ever change for them?  
As far as the one modern woman that I can’t get out of my mind—when it came down to it, I gave in. I tried to walk away, but in the end, I don’t want to go back to what I was before Phryne appeared in my life—in my investigations—in a lavatory. Wherever it leads, and however it ends, I have to know. So I’ll play this out, to the bitter end: and I know it may very well be bitter, or at least bittersweet. 

###

_He equivocated. I didn’t know if he would or not: if there is one thing I know for sure about him, it is that he is not weak. But I bent Jack Robinson to my will, like so many men before him. Why does the victory feel hollow? When we toasted each other, I thought I had won, but I didn’t feel the satisfaction I expected to feel. I wanted him back in my life—but will it ever be the same?_

###

Perhaps we can find our way if we take it slow…

###

_I hope we can find our way back to being close..._


End file.
